Sjogren’s Disease

Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease in which moisture-producing glands are damaged, significantly decreasing the quantity and quality of saliva and tears.
Although the hallmark symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, Sjogren's also may cause dysfunction of other organs, affecting the kidneys, gastrointestinal system, blood vessels, lungs, liver, pancreas and the nervous system. Patients may experience extreme fatigue and joint pain and have a high risk of lymphoma.
About half of the time Sjogren's syndrome occurs alone, and the other half it occurs in the presence of another connective tissue disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or scleroderma.